Dense fog envelops Jammu plains

Jammu, Dec 19: Amid an overcast sky, dense fog enveloped the majority of the plain areas of the Jammu division on Friday, impacting normal life, particularly in the rural border belt, due to reduced visibility.

Foggy conditions, during morning and evening hours, due to moisture, intensified chill, and plummeting temperature.

Reduced visibility in the border stretches, including Bishnah, Arnia, Aghore, and R S Pura, caused inconvenience to people while commuting.

Vehicles could be seen plying with their headlights on, amid low visibility.

“We were taken aback by sudden foggy conditions this morning. I had come to drop my children off at school. It was chilly with almost zero visibility. Though fog during this season is a usual phenomenon, the sudden dense fog was a bit surprising. These conditions also have their unique charm, provided the drivers on the roads remain cautious as low visibility becomes a cause of frequent accidents,” said Rakesh, a local from Arnia.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Chief Scientist and In-charge Agrometeorology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu (SKUAST-J), Mahender Singh, said that the foggy conditions prevailed due to moisture ahead of the Western Disturbance spell.

“From tomorrow evening, the Western Disturbance will become active across many parts of North India. Moisture precedes Western Disturbance, and that is the main cause of prevailing dense foggy conditions. However, the very likely wet spell thereafter will break this chilly foggy cover. While the plain areas of Jammu are likely to experience light rains, the higher reaches may have snowfall with thunder showers,” Singh said.

According to him, Jammu on Friday registered a minimum temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, and the maximum temperature recorded was 19 degrees Celsius.

“Relative humidity (the measure of the amount of water vapour in the air) in the morning was 97 while it was recorded as 73 in the evening,” Singh said.

The prevailing dry weather conditions have led to a surge in weather-related ailments across the region, besides depleting the water level due to reduced flow in major rivers, including the Tawi.